How a PIM Drives Omnichannel Success
On the surface, it seems like making it big on Amazon is the goal. Or, at least, “it’s enough.” The benefits are many: you cast a worldwide net to an audience already in shopping mode. Today, 63% of shoppers go directly to Amazon to search.
Look past the bright Amazon horizon, though, and you remember the other 37%. Consumer preferences are changing, and not in favor of marketplaces like Amazon. This shift will be a good thing for brands because marketplace sales are usually singular purchases, and they don’t offer much in the way of a “brand experience.” That’s a huge miss for branding as well as your brand’s analytics.
Both e-marketplaces and other sales channels have their place in the new e-commerce ecosystem, and competitive sales today require being everywhere. This omnichannel sales model is what gains brands sales and loyalty, but only if done right.
Keep reading for a quick look at omnichannel commerce in 2021 and how your PIM drives the most important components of omnichannel success.
Defining Omnichannel in 2021
Omnichannel commerce refers to a brand selling its products on any combination of the following channels:
- E-marketplaces like Amazon and Wayfair
- Proprietary e-commerce website
- Social selling channels
- Physical retail stores
An omnichannel presence also means that customers not only buy anywhere, but they also collect or ship anywhere. Fulfillment models like “click and collect” and buying in one store to pick up in another are all part of the new normal in omnichannel business.
True omnichannel also means that customers have an ideal experience of your brand no matter what channel they’re on. This means there has to be transparency in product information, your prices have to be as close as possible, and each product listing has to be recognizably part of your brand.
This is all done through product data.
Product data is the only thing that goes with you to every channel. It’s also what finally converts those users who find your listings.
Once we’re talking omnichannel, product data becomes hard to manage. Amazon has certain product fields to optimize, while your own e-commerce website has a totally different layout. You want to optimize your listings to each channel they’re on, since an Amazon shopper will be a different avatar than your target Walmart.com shopper.
With a next-gen PIM, that data is no longer a headache, and it certainly isn’t a roadblock. Keep reading to see how your PIM acts as a critical catalyst in omnichannel commerce.
6 Critical Functions of PIM in Omnichannel Commerce
To stay competitive in the 2021 retail landscape, informative and consistent product information is key to deliver a superior shopping experience.
Especially as enriched product photos, videos, and even augmented reality experiences become a feature of the most competitive product listings, a PIM is required to pool all the essential and enriched product data you have now across shared folders and spreadsheets.
Here are 6 other crucial functions a PIM plays in today’s omnichannel sales:
1.Position your brand for more changes in buying behavior
So much has changed in retail in the last 20 years that it’s exciting—and maybe a little terrifying—to imagine what changes will come next. The pandemic accelerated many trends that since have become the competitive norm, like offering AR shopping experiences.
Staying agile and bracing your brand to scale is done with PIM software. Consumer expectations are continuing to shift, and a PIM is the only solution to organize product data in a way that each shift in strategy won’t require months of manual updates.
2.Keep product data accurate
Keeping your product information accurate is critical. Consumers need to know what to expect, or they won’t buy from you. Worse, they could buy expecting one thing, but get another, then return the product. That charge-back costs you even more and could have been avoided.
Customers who can’t make an informed purchase instantly will look for alternatives somewhere else. Organizing your product data in a cloud-based PIM is how you can easily compare product information to clean up inaccuracies and fill in missing data.
3.The competition is clever, but your PIM is smarter
Competition is a simple click away for consumers. If potential buyers can’t easily find the benefit, specification, or experience they’re looking for on your product page, they’ll be gone in a fraction of a second.
Poor product data leaves holes in the information a buyer is looking for. It also offers up a bad shopping experience for consumers looking for more visually engaging listings.
Check out your competition and you’ll see what kind of product information to build off of for a superior experience. Then, stay ahead of that competition by dealing with each channel’s digital requirements in the one system designed to organize product data for multiple channels at once.
4.Stay ahead of changes in marketing
Omnichannel marketing is changing fast. Now, more product information is needed than ever in product-based content. From blogs to hyper-segmented display ads, the content needed to support the omnichannel experience is now nearly impossible to manage in a spreadsheet.
A PIM, of course, is designed to tie loose ends into one aggregated library, including audio-visually rich product content. Your choice of PIM matters here because a legacy PIM won’t be able to work with photos and videos. Instead, next-gen PIMs designed for omnichannel e-commerce are used to manage accurate and optimized product information for all channels.
5.Channel consistency = customer loyalty
Consumer loyalty has dropped today to all-time lows, yet another trend accelerated by the pandemic.
It’s just too easy to click away and search for that “perfect product” somewhere else.
One of the only devices left to brands to build loyalty is to create a likeable and recognizable brand. Once you go through the trouble of dreaming up and designing that brand “personality,” your PIM is where you organize product information to ensure the brand is consistent across channels.
Adopting an omnichannel sales model is the best opportunity brands have to boost conversions over the lagging average. Customers are 90% more likely to convert on a first sale and stick around for future sales if a brand is present on multiple channels instead of just one.
6.You won’t have to choose
The more channels you’re on, the slower your processes get. It’s inevitable. When you’re dividing attention across multiple channels, you end up picking and choosing which to go “all in” on and which skate by on the bare minimum.
The only way to focus on all your channels equally is to leverage a PIM. It’s there that you’ll aggregate and optimize data with built-in guidance and automation. It’s also there that you’ll easily export product information formatted for each channel you need to update.
Transform Product Information Management for Omnichannel
The market is shaking out any brands that can’t deliver the omnichannel experience that consumers demand.
One of the ways brands are regularly flunking out is in the management of their product data. When dealing with tens of thousands of SKUs, copying and pasting this information into spreadsheets is a waste of time in the fast-moving world of e-commerce.
Furthermore, each platform you sell on is under constant development, meaning your data is ever-changing.
Manual product information management is also prone to human error and counterintuitive for brands that need increasing collaboration between departments.
To win the race to omnichannel success, it’s time to transform the way you manage product data. By choosing the right PIM, you’ll take a step forward in each of these three strategic areas:
- Speed up time to market
- Offer a modern customer experience
- Position your team for agile adjustments in ever-changing data
Start by differentiating your brand in the marketplace with accurate and complete product information. Continue to refine your product data as you build better insights from each channel.
Check your Amazon health score before launching to the new omnichannel norm.